Pre-Marathon Fun

Danny and I arrived in Boston last night after a what-seemed-like-forever flight. We cabbed it to the house we're renting (with Amy, Chad, and Megan, who got in early this morning), then we hit the neighborhood Mexican restaurant for some food. I told the waiter that I wanted a marg, but couldn't have one. Then I remembered that it was only Friday, and the race isn't until Monday, so I indulged a little. Yeah, it was good.

After almost 10 hours of sleep last night (!), I had a nice and lazy morning. Eventually, Danny and I decided it was time to head to the Expo, but we also wanted to get in a 5ish mile run. So we ran to the Expo. We went in the convention center, got our numbers, and headed over to pick up our goody bags and shirts. As I was about to leave the shirt pick-up area, I noticed a volunteer looking at me, kinda like he knew me. Then, "Hey, you're Sean Meissner". "Yeah...and you?" It was Sherpa John from NH. It's always fun to see fellow ultrarunners at marathons.

Then it was in to the mammoth Expo. It was a bit overwhelming, so I decided my first stop needed to be at the nuun booth. Hart had set it up for me to hang out there for a while and help talk about the electrolyte drink that I love! Eric and Julianne were super-nice and stoked to have me there. I immediately started talking to hundreds of marathoners and their friends about nuun...all about nuun...even the sorbitol part of nuun. Yes, sorbitol. Yes, it's a natural laxative. Yes, it's also commonly found in most fruits. Yes, when taken in HUGE quantities, it will do the same thing to you as eating a whole bunch of prunes. Yes, it's tastes super-yummy and really is a great electrolyte drink; it's very natural and it just makes you want to drink. I'm actually even planning to start with a bottle of kona kola nuun on Monday.

After a short while at the nuun booth, a Japanese man came up to me, handed me his bib number and a sharpie, and said (I kid you not) "You're Sean Meissner...you can run, but you can't hide". Huh?! It was pretty crazy, but also kinda cool. I saw Pam Reed's signature already on there, so I figured he definitely knew some ultrarunners. So yeah, I signed it, and even posed for a picture with him. It was my 2 minutes of slight fame. I saw a few other friends go by as I hung out with nuun, including fast-and-nice guy Brad Mitchell from ID. I except to see him a few times on Monday, too.

I hung out at the booth for a little over an hour, then decided to brave the Expo. I saw lots of people and lots of things - some cool, some kinda weird, and lots and lots of logo merchandise being purchased. Legends were there autographing posters...Boston Billy, Dick Beardsley, Peter Reed (who couldn't stop praising nuun when he saw mine and Eric's visors!), Tim DeBoom, Bart Yasso, etc. I thought it would be cool to get a poster with all of their autographs for the store, but decided I didn't really want to wait in all of those lines. Maybe if Rod had paid for my trip... Michael Hayden spotted me through the crowd and we chatted for a bit. He's fresh off the Mad City 50k last weekend, where he set a new national age group record of 3:45...smokin', Michael!

I saw quite a few industry people that I knew or recognized, and even stopped by Superfeet, Balega, and a few others to give them the early scoop on the new shop (and yes, I'm charging Rod for all of that time).

After hitting the booths, I headed back to nuun for another 1/2 hour with Julianne and Eric. We were rocking, blasting 80s music, dancing, handing out samples, selling lots, and explaining the benefits of nuun to hundreds of thirsty runners. I got caught up in it all, and before I knew it, the 1/2 hour turned into an hour and a half. I was having a blast, but also getting tired. Although I knew that Julianne and Eric were obviously doing just fine without me, I felt bad for leaving while it was still busy. But they're cool, encouraged me to take off, and even sent me away with a new, clean visor (that will complement my skanked-out one nicely), and a few tubes of the new orange ginger nuun. Thanks, Eric and Julianne - I enjoyed the afternoon with you two.

A t-ride back home, a quick stop by the local market, and pasta primavera was served. Now it's just been a nice, relaxing evening at the house with the gang, watching the Red Sox game and talking geeky runner-talk. Danny and I are excited to join some fast guys from Eugene to watch the fast women tomorrow morning, while Amy, Chad, and Megan are headed to Cambridge to check out Harvard.

I'm loving it here!